Viral Video: Game Of Thrones Theme Song On Wine Glasses, Pans and a Water Jug

It seems like everything with “Game of Thrones” in the title turns to social media gold nowadays. But the story behind this video is more complicated – and touching.

Dan Newbie, the artist creating music out of wine glasses and other household implements, is a 28-year-old part-time computer programmer and student at the University of Central Arkansas. He came to the US six years ago, leaving behind his home country of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a war-torn country in central Africa.

Mario getting the wine glass treatment.

Newbie started his wine glass music making during a snow day at home and his covers of Pharrell Williams’ Happy, Let It Go from Disney’s Frozen and the Super Mario Brothers theme song were instant YouTube hits. One popular demand he decided to do the Game of Thrones intro.

In the NPR show Here & Now he shared the real inspiration behind his music. “[The war is] actually getting worse every day. People are still dying, and even if it’s part of the country, it really affects the entire population back home. The economy is, if not the worst, the poorest country in the world. I found out that I wasn’t going to be getting any support from back home anymore, and because that was my only way to pay for school and for everything that I was doing here, I wasn’t going to be able to continue as a student at the school I go to. I basically didn’t know what to do, and I was like, ‘I’m just, you know, I’m gonna be happy in the moment right now and do something and share some happiness.”

As the former editor of Flip the Media and now a contributor, I cover the digital revolution in all its gory glory. Marketing communications professional by trade, I like to look at the strategic side of things. I appreciate beautiful design and it takes me forever to pick a font.